Horse DNA found in UK Tesco Burgers

Recommended Posts

I may be mistaken, but you've not given me any reason to believe you. While it's true that in times of need, people has gone to eat whatever animal they can find, even pets. Horses generally aren't in overstock even in the times when they were still used for labor. The kind of horses you talk about weren't exactly the race horses we got today where they got these toothpick lower legs that snap like twigs. Also, horses live quite a long time most of them. And those who had them would hardly consider killing them just to sell their meat for cheap.

I'm sure it happened that they got injured and they decided to make a buck from a bad situation. But hardly in the quantities you were suggesting.

Share this post

Link to post

As for canines and felines as a food, I got bit of reservations for it. Wouldn't mind to try those, if I got the chance.

What about rats? The hawkers sure seem to know their shit...they handle all aspects of rat cuisine, starting from catching them "fresh" right off the river/sewage canal nearby, expose them for the customer to take his pick, and then gutting/boiling them, all in front of the client, so you literally KNOW what you are getting!

This lady here seems to work somewhat differently: from what I understood, you have to supply the rats, but she handles the killing/gutting and uses a different technique for cooking them, by roasting them in a stone oven (seems more appetizing and safe to eat, I must say. If I had to try rats, I'd choose the roasted ones)

Maybe THAT'S the solution to the worldwide food and economic crisis? I can't imagine rats being driven to extinction...rats were a staple of the underclasses in Norman Spinrad's "Street Meat" near-future short novel, after all....

Share this post

Link to post

I may be mistaken, but you've not given me any reason to believe you. While it's true that in times of need, people has gone to eat whatever animal they can find, even pets. Horses generally aren't in overstock even in the times when they were still used for labor.

look, i'll freely admit i don't have any numbers ready at my hand. this is fairly basic stuff, though. we're talking about the era before agriculture was industrialized - horses were very common for daily labour, you could find a few on every farm and they were irreplaceable for, say, hauling wood in the hilly terrain. even my granddad told me stories of watering big herds of horses just before '48 (cz, not the wild west). then the industrialization made them obsolete and in the eastern bloc there was even a "tractorization" period of confiscating and slaughtering excess horses, which meant pretty much all horses.

The kind of horses you talk about weren't exactly the race horses we got today where they got these toothpick lower legs that snap like twigs. Also, horses live quite a long time most of them. And those who had them would hardly consider killing them just to sell their meat for cheap. I'm sure it happened that they got injured and they decided to make a buck from a bad situation.

oh, true. we still use the term "brewery gelding" (direct, perhaps sloppy translation, sorry) to call someone really strong. but they eventually grew weak or got ran down by excessive demands of the master. the meat was always used up if it wasn't diseased... and i will admit that might be why it was considered low grade. it was usually old and tough from work. no one sane would keep horses as slaughter animals.

But hardly in the quantities you were suggesting.

again, gotta think of the time period - these were the times when most people ate meat once or twice per week. if they were fairly well off. large quantities of any meat weren't (mass-)produced at all. i could probably find you some web literature if you're interested and don't want to let me off easily, but to be honest, most of my knowledge is contemporary movies (i don't mean retro), documentaries and bits of anecdotes from oldtimers.

Share this post

Link to post

Different parts of the world, different history I suppose. I don't know enough about american history to say. Most of my information is from movies and that's hardly a reliable source.

But poor people didn't have horses in Sweden and at least the northern parts Europe. They might have a pig that they'd save for winter. If they were really lucky they could have a cow as well. But feeding these during the winter season wasn't easy. Usually they would aquire a small piglet in the spring to feed it through fall and eat it for christmas. (hence the customary fatty foods we eat during this holiday) Rest of the time, they generally didn't eat meat at all. Horses were considered very important if you could afford to get and keep one. You wouldn't wear them down with excessive work unless you had to.

Share this post

Link to post

Friend of mine had bear a couple days ago. Said it tastes like really good steak. I find that a little hard to believe, but since he's a real red meat guy, I suppose I can give him the benefit of the doubt.

I think I'd eat grasshoppers and scorpions before I ate horse/cat/dog. Hell, we treat crab and lobster like delicacy, right?

Share this post

Link to post

Horse meat is something I have wanted to try for awhile. It's just not widely available in my area. I did how every try some grilled Cuy( guinea pig) at a Peruvian restaurant a couple months ago. Its was pretty good. Tasted a bit like rabbit.

Share this post

Link to post

I had alligator tail in Florida - it came in battered rings and was just ridiculously chewy. I'd kind of hoped for a steak or just a big slab of tail when I ordered it...

I had it on a cabab stick :)

It was ok, strangely it tasted just like I expected it to. Its a very white looking meat and tastes a little bit like chicken , but as this guy said its a bit chewy, though not too bad, I think maybe having it battered ruined it.

I dont know what part it was though, it may not have been tail.....expect it does make a difference.

Share this post

Link to post

i don't see the problem here, think it was sewer rat or other animal instead of horses...

Actually i'm with maes, here in Italy eating horse meat (along with other game meat like wild boar) is a normal thing (actually we even eat frogs -in some rural parts of north italy- and back in the days even pigeons!) is a tasty meat (the horse) imo, and we i was a child (even now if i found it) but unluckily, is a little expensive...

Share this post

Link to post

i don't see the problem here, think it was sewer rat or other animal instead of horses...

To be fair, if I'm buying beef burgers, I like to remain confident that I am, in fact, buying beef burgers. One's stance on how they see an animal in their personal food-chain is irrelevant to the issue at hand, here.

Share this post

Link to post

Yeah, my only problem with this is that they were supposed to be beef burgers. I wouldn't care in the slightest if Tesco was stocking horse burgers. In fact I'd buy them at least once to try. However, the contents of an item of food should be what the label says it contains.

Share this post

Link to post

To be fair, if I'm buying beef burgers, I like to remain confident that I am, in fact, buying beef burgers. One's stance on how they see an animal in their personal food-chain is irrelevant to the issue at hand, here.

Right point, Technician. Why hidden the fact you serve other type of meat, serving it as another meat? I don't see the aim of this, just looks stupid (although is illegal eating horse meat in England...)

Share this post

Link to post

That fucking video is one of the most revolting things on youtube. I don't even care if I'm offending anyone by stating this.

Actually, it's pure genius from start to end: their main preoccupation at the beginning of the video seems to be the price of rat meat, which amounts to something like $10/kg (after bargaining!).

The rats themselves appear specifically bred for this purpose and their cages are filled with coconut fragments (perhaps to make them appear more wholesome to potential customers?). I don't know, maybe they are gourmet rats, hence the high price...they sure are all big and very similar, which would be consistent with them being actually bred and raised for consumption, and not just randomly scavenged/caught from the streets/sewers. I'd expect to see more size/color variety, if that were the case.

At the end, after the butchering is over, I still throw a chuckle whenever I see the snickering vietnamese guy passing behind them, and that Pepsi refrigerator right behind them...yeah, I'm sure (grilled?) rat goes down nicely with some Pepsi!